beta-reading for fun and completely no profit

[arcanetrivia]

Do you have absolutely all of your work beta-read? If not, when do you not?

This question comes about because I noticed that alisanne has all of her drabbles betaed (by sevfan), and that seems unusual. I've seen a number of other people say that they never bother to have drabbles betaed, while they do most/all of their other stuff. I suppose with a piece that short she's just having someone check it quick for errors of mass stupid, but still.

I never have my drabbles betaed. In fact, a lot of my stuff (as though there were a lot! ha!) has never been passed through a beta because I regarded it as highly non-serious, just written as a lark, or sometimes literally as a joke (e.g. "Potion-Induced Comma"). I certainly don't beta the stuff I write about silly summaries, which often is long enough to get a "drabble" (<200 words) or "ficlet" (200-1000 words) tag. Not that crack/humour can't be done "for serious", just that that wasn't what I thought I was doing.

So. What are the factors that would cause you to pass up having something betaed, if anything? Just curious.

Comments

[fenm.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who's into a lot of the same stuff I am, and I run nearly all my fics, of any length, by him before posting. The only time I don't is if I think of one and want to get it sent (like, there's a deadline) before I know I'll talk to him (we chat on line once a day), or if I want it to be a surprise for some reason.

I agree that beta'ing drabbles isn't really necessary. I do it because I have someone I talk to all the time who can and will do it, but if you don't have that, it seems like more trouble than it's worth to go searching for a beta-reader just for a ~100 word story.

[ennta.livejournal.com]

When I first starting posting fanfic to teh interwebz, I tried to have everything beta read; now, however, I usually just ask a friend to look it over for silly mistakes. Honestly, this is because I've had difficulties finding a reliable, thorough beta reader; most of the betas I've worked with sent my fics back with only one or two quibbles or a "That was great!" tacked on the end.

To be fair, though, this might be because the fanfic site I'm most familiar with (a Star Wars-specific forum) is very, very strict about dishing out concrit. Strict to the point of absurdity, in fact, and so while the site is fun and friendly--and the fanfic is generally quite a bit better than what one would find on ff.n--I've stopped looking for beta readers there.

[elvishly.livejournal.com]

If I had a permanent good-friend-good beta, then I'd probably do that...but at the moment, I don't and it's too much effort just sending back and forth a 100 word piece, you know? :S

[awry.livejournal.com]

I think only two things haven't been beta'd and that was things that were written specifically for other people and I didn't care to have anyone mess with it.

[nehalenia.livejournal.com]

I used to have all my stuff beta read but not so much now. It kind of depends on what it is. If it's a PWP that I'm trying to just whip out, or if I know exactly where I'm going with the fic and it isn't too long, I might not have it beta read. My SPAG is pretty good -- tho it's always good to have stuff proof-read and I do try to have that done -- but I find the times I really need my betas is when I'm having trouble with the story idea, or the style, or the POV, or something's off and I can't figure out what it is.

Me, I wouldn't bother on a drabble, or even a small ficlet, but then, I usually don't write short pieces.

As a general rule, I like to have all my stuff beta-read, but if I'm sure it's the way I want it, or I'm on a deadline and simply won't have time to make any changes, I'll send it on without a beta.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on why one's writing. I didn't have my first fic beta'ed, unless you want to count the number of times I went over it myself before it was finally posted.

Since then, I've found that while my drafts are usually as good or better than many of the fics I read, I learn so much from betas-- hints on bad habits, structure, more effective word choices, you name it. I posted the last section of "In Loco" incompletely beta'ed with nary a qualm, but I'm looking forward to the comments on the next section, as painful as they sometimes are.

In short, I'm here to Learn, and if someone is willing to donate their time, I will gleefully study their advice, and return the favor for others. It's cheaper and probably more useful than a MFA. Which is good because I already have student loan issues.

[bohemianspirit.livejournal.com]

I've never used a beta for my fanfic. Fanfic is recreation for me, and I'm used to editing myself, anyway. I figure I edit myself well enough for recreational use, and if someone catches an occasional goof, no big deal. Correcting errors is as simple as a couple of keystrokes! And I'm a decent enough writer that I'd never post a train wreck requiring more than a couple of tweaks.